Department of Islamic Law
Head of Department : Assoc. Prof. Dr Najibah Mohd Zin
Total of Academic Staff : 52
Department of Public Law
Head of Department : Dr Khairil Azmin b Mokhtar
Total of Academic Staff : 35
Department of Private Law
Head of Department : Dr Bashiran Begum Mobarak Ali
Total of Academic Staff : 34
Introduction
The department was set up to coordinate all private law subjects offered by the Kulliyyah at every level of studies. The department is situated at level 4 of AIKOL building and is managed by a Head of Department and a personal assistant. The department consists of 34 assiduous academic staffs teaching in various aspects of private law. Heading the list are professors and associate professors renowned in their areas of expertise namely company law, intellectual property law, alternative dispute resolutions, medical law, banking law and building contract followed by streams of esteem assistant professors and lecturers building expertise in their own areas of laws.
As to the facilities, the department has a private meeting room for our experts to discuss research projects, conduct coordinators meeting and also department's meeting. Discussion and meeting with industry people and visitors are also held here. The office is also equipped with an additional computer, printer and a photocopy machine that facilitates research conducted by members. The department also has a compact lounge for lecturer to meet students. Although small, the department continue to provide relax and friendly atmosphere for both lecturers and students.
Aim and Objective
Our main aim is to produce scholars and experts in all areas of private laws that are able to guide, educate and equip students with valuable practical knowledge, information and virtue. Students are our most important assets and it is our responsibility to produce graduates that contribute to progressive development of the country, industry and society. To achieve this aim, our lecturers are always keeping up with the latest development in their areas of expertise, conduct research projects and disseminate latest knowledge through teaching, publications and participations in various local and international conferences.
The Law Subjects under Private Law Department
The department offers subject at undergraduate and postgraduate level. For undergraduate, at level I, the students are required to study law of contract and law of torts. For level II, it is made compulsory for student to take compulsory moot. It is a skilled based subject aim to develop students' skills in communication and in solving legal issues. The students will be divided into small group of 20 students. One instructor will be assigned to a section to guide the students in preparing their argument and written and oral submission. The students will be further divided to into 5 groups of 4 students. Each group will consists of 2 students acting for the Appellant and the other 2 for the Respondent. The students will have to present their case before their peers, lecturers and finally before practitioners.
At Level III, the core subjects are Equity and Trusts, and Company Law. In Equity and Trust, problem based learning or PBL approach is adopted to assist the students in having better understanding of the application of the law. Elective subjects are also offered to the third year students and the subjects are Introduction to Intellectual Property Law, Introduction to Copyright & Design Right, Introduction to Medical Law & Ethic, Commercial Law, Alternative Dispute Resolutions, Building Contract and Banking & Negotiable Instrument.
Finally at Level IV the students will be exposed to study civil procedure law. The subject deals with the step by step procedure of bringing a civil claim in court. The subject includes drafting of all relevant court’s documents and presentation of the case in court.
Postgraduate Level
For the Masters in Comparative Law Programme, the subject offers by the Private Law Department are Biotech Law, Company Takeovers, Comparative Company Law, Comparative Law of Property, Alternative Dispute Resolution, Cyber Law, International Trade Law, Private International Law and Medical Negligence Law. The department will keep on encouraging lecturers to introduce new subjects for this programme.
A valuable note to the postgraduate students, the department has always welcomed any contribution in the form of research assistantship and teaching assistants. Our department has this far rely on the postgraduate students to fill in vacancy as tutor in various aspect of private law. Do visit us or call us for inquiry particularly at the beginning of the semester.
The Strength of the Department
The strength of the department lies in the expertise of the academic staffs. The department is proud to have experts in company law, intellectual property, medical law, alternative dispute resolutions as addition to the experts we have in contract law, torts, commercial law, equity and trust law, and civil procedure.
In company law for example the department has experts in the area of corporate governance, takeover and mergers, partnership law and corporate taxation. The company law experts have recently pooled their expertise together to conduct a roundtable discussion on the latest amendment made to the Companies Act 1965. Our intellectual property law expert has always been invited to give lectures, presentation and take part in the development of laws in various national and international conventions. Equally active in sharing expertise is our medical law expert who is a prominent scholar among the medical practitioner and regulators.
The development of ICT has also requires the academic staff to include in their teaching related ICT aspects such as e-commerce, online defamation and money laundering. Our equity and trust team for example has extended their expertise in the area of offshore trust and Islamic trust in order to keep abreast with the development in that area.
In civil procedure, all our experts have practicing experiences either as advocate and solicitor or as magistrate and registrar at the High Court. The civil procedure team works closely with the Legal Practice Unit (LPU) which has been set up under the Kulliyyah to train students and staffs on procedural aspect in criminal, civil and evidence.
Recognition of the subject offered under the department is important to us. The department is proud to claim that our Alternative Dispute Resolutions has received recognition from the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators London, which have exempted our LL.B 3rd year ADR students from the qualifying examination for the associateship of the Institute. It is important to note that only two universities have been given such exemption, one is IIUM and the other is City University of Hong Kong. The subject incorporates teaching from the industry experts and this give opportunity to our students not only to receive knowledge and practical information but also chances to meet them in person. This is definitely an added bonus to our students.
The long list of our academic staff, their expertise and their list of publications and research works can be viewed at the Kulliyyah of laws website.
Future Direction
The department will constantly invite, liaise and work together with the regulators
and the experts in the industry. We will keep ourselves and the students
update with the latest development in the respective areas of private
law. We will venture into various new territories and provide opportunities
for our staffs and students to engineer the legal progress. Thus our
future direction is geared toward producing experts and students that
are not only knowledgeable, but also professional, progressive and proficient.
Do join us and be part of our team.